Confessions Of A Chatterbox (Confessions Series Book 2)

by Abigail Davies

  “So what you’re saying is you’ve met a version of you.”

  “No. Yes. Ugh. She’s me on steroids but with these ridiculous notions of what success is—”

  I cut myself off as the front door closed, my stomach dipping at knowing who it was. I hadn’t seen JJ since the kiss a couple of days ago, and that was fully intentional. I was half afraid I’d embarrass myself to the point of death, but half worried I’d jump him there and then.

  I’d relived the kiss over and over again. My mind had separated from my body and was taking over. It had been kidnapped, and nothing was letting it go, no matter how much negotiating I was doing.

  “Miriam, I’ve got to…” I trailed off as JJ walked into the living room. He didn’t even look at me as he sauntered into the kitchen, but my gaze would not be deterred. I tried to tell it to move away, but nothing would stop it from staring at his ass in those light-denim jeans. The way it moved with each of his steps had my pulse going haywire.

  “El? Ella?”

  My eyes widened as JJ halted at the soft notes of Miriam’s voice, and I was almost positive I resembled a deer in headlights. “I... I’ve got to go!” I clicked the end call button and watched the screen of my cell like it was a bomb ready to explode.

  Or maybe that’s what I was.

  I could feel JJ’s eyes burning a hole in my head, but I refused—refused—to look at him. I would not for one second turn my attention to him. I would never—well, shit. Now I was looking at him.

  “Hello.” I nodded and smiled the most awkward smile in the world.

  “Hello,” he answered, frowning at me.

  Well, that was fun. I stood, wishing I could get away from myself. Maybe I should barricade myself in my room until Jeffery came back from his conference. I could build myself a den and stockpile enough food to last me a few days. I’d survive inside one room for at least a week.

  I shook my head and vetoed that idea because I was starving hungry and today was meatloaf day. Moving past him, I held my breath, determined not to take in his woodsy scent that would for sure lure me into his lair.

  Working on automatic, I pulled out all the vegetables and started to prepare them, feeling JJ a few feet away from me as he pulled out the ready-made meatloaf. All we needed to do was heat it, and it’d be ready.

  “Who were you talking to?” JJ asked.

  “Huh?” I shrugged. “That was my boyfr—” Dang it. I couldn’t come out and tell him that it was my boyfriend’s mom. I’d kissed this sexy piece of man meat. “It was...okay, let me try to explain in the least amount of words possible.”

  “Not possible.”

  My head reeled back, and I stopped chopping the vegetables. “What’s not possible?”

  “You using the least amount of words.”

  I gasped, held the paring knife in between us, and popped my hip to the side. “What are you trying to say?”

  He continued to prepare the food in front of him, not even aware that I was subtly threatening him with a two-inch knife.

  “You talk too much.”

  I stepped closer, getting right up into his space. “You think I talk too much? How dare you. I’ll have you know that words just love me. Therefore, they like to come out of my mouth often to form many sentences.”

  He tilted his head to the side and pointed at my face. “That was way more words than was necessary.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he continued, “I like to listen to you talk.”

  All of the words I was going to say flew right out of the window, and I was speechless. How the hell did that happen? How did he know just the right thing to say without even putting effort into it? Maybe he really was a wizard and had me under his spell. I bet it was the cologne. It probably had some kind of properties specific to make me want him more.

  “You like to listen to me talk?”

  “I do.” His green eyes zoned in on me. “So who was that?”

  “Who was what?” I turned and continued to chop the vegetables.

  “On the cell.”

  “Oh. Right.” I cleared my throat. “So here’s the thing.” I paused, trying to think how to word it but my mouth opened and said, “I moved to New York when I graduated college, and to cut a long story short, I met this guy. He was an awesome guy, and we became best friends.” I waved my hand in the air. “Anyway, he’s gay, but his family doesn’t know. He was going to tell them, and then they found out his mom has Alzheimer’s, so he didn’t want to rock the boat. I became his beard—his fake girlfriend—and now two years later, we’re living together and pretending to be in a relationship.”

  “Approximately five point four million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and more than half may not know they have it,” JJ reeled off. “More men than women have Alzheimer's.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “That’s what you took from all of that.”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t care about my fake boyfriend?”

  JJ paused and turned his body to face me fully. “Do you kiss him?”

  “Who? Chad?” I scrunched up my nose. “I mean, I have a couple times, but it was just like a friend kissing a friend.”

  I sucked in my bottom lip, not able to get the sensation of JJ’s off mine. And from the spark in his eyes as he glanced down at my mouth, I had a feeling he was thinking the same thing.

  “Was it like when we kissed?”

  Pulling in a deep breath, I whispered, “Nothing has ever felt like when we kissed.”

  The air swirled around us, and I could feel my body swaying toward him. I wanted his lips on mine again, I needed to feel his hands against my skin, but the timer going off on the oven pulled us from our stare.

  Damn. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold off with him. He was a force I couldn’t pull back from, and I had to admit, even if I could, I didn’t want to.

  Chapter 13

  Confession #61: I give everyone nicknames based on food. Taco Tim & Candy Cody are my faves.

  I’d been to the pet store once, and that was when Vi was here, so trying to navigate my way there from JJ’s house was a mission. I could whip up a graphic image no problem, talk the hind legs off a donkey like it was as easy as walking, but ask me to follow directions, and I had no clue.

  My maps app told me that it was a fifteen-minute walk, and yet it had been twenty-five, and the app was telling me I was still fifteen minutes away. The app was obviously in the wrong. It was the only possible reason why I was no closer to this stupid shop.

  Fridays were made for pajamas, I’d even made an awesome quote image to start a movement, so why was it I was dressed in jean shorts and a tank top? Because Jeffery was meant to be back in town today, but he’d called to tell me he wouldn’t be home for another couple of days. I understood why he wanted me to go and tell JJ because it was another change to his routine, but what I wanted to tell him was that I thought he’d be okay with it.

  If I ever finally got there.

  Frowning down at my cell screen, I halted in the middle of the sidewalk and wiped my arm over my forehead. LA heat was a bish, and I just needed one cool day. Just one. I wasn’t asking for much, but being outside was the freaking worst.

  The arrow on the app went all kinds of crazy. It obviously had PMS and couldn’t decide what way it wanted to go. Stupid goddamn thing. The dreaded circle loaded, and I looked up, trying to see if I recognized anything around me. Maybe something would jump out at me, or a sign would magically appear like the carpet out of Aladdin. I knew I should have called Uber Dave. I’d have been out of this heat and in a room with beautiful air-conditioning by now if I had.

  People milled about around me, and every time I tried to get someone’s attention, they looked away. You’d have thought I was some kind of villain by the way they skirted around me just to avoid making eye contact. Outside people sucked ass.

  The maps app finally got control of itself and loaded properly, pointing straight ahead and telling me I was a couple of minutes a
way. I followed the directions to a T, and ninety-seconds later I was standing outside the pet store.

  I shook my head as I locked my cell. This was the exact reason why I relied on Ubers or people who actually knew where they were going. Getting lost was fun if you knew how to get back from your lost position. I, however, did not. One time, I’d tried to do a Hansel and Gretel and leave a trail behind for me to find. No one ever told me that the birds would eat my trail.

  The bell echoed over the door as I pushed it open, and the distinct smell of hay whacked me in the face full force. I was used to it lingering on JJ and Jeffery when they came home, but actually being in here made me queasy.

  It was near closing time, but I wasn’t even sure what they did to close the store, so I wandered around the aisles and toward the few puppies in the back. They were tiny things as they yipped to get my attention, and okay, maybe they were cute too.

  “Ella?” came from right behind me.

  I jumped in the air, my hand flying to my chest. “JJ.” I pulled in a breath, turned to face him, and dipped my head back so I could meet his eyes. “You scared me. Why are you always trying to scare me?” I shook my head. “It’s like you want to be the lead in a scary movie or something.”

  “Why are you here? You said you hated animals.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him that wasn’t true, but...I’d be lying. It wasn’t that I hated them per se, I just didn’t like the mess they would ultimately make. There was no way in hell you could get a baby animal and not expect it to pee somewhere in your house. It was inevitable, and something I would not put up with.

  “Your dad called.” I shuffled my feet and willed my gaze to stay fixated to his. “He wanted me to come and tell you that he wouldn’t be home for another couple of days.”

  “Oh.” He frowned and looked away, finally giving me a reprieve from his intense stare. I didn’t even think he was aware he was doing it, but damn it made me all kinds of—

  “You could have told me that when I got home.”

  “I know,” I huffed. “I told him that, but he worries about you, JJ.”

  He twirled around and walked away, so I followed him into the back of the store where a sign told me it was staff only. I was a rebel and stuck my tongue out at the sign as I pushed through the door.

  “He shouldn’t. I’m twenty-two and a man. He treats me like I’m ten.”

  I trailed my gaze from his combat boots, over his jeans, and the back of his T-shirt. He definitely wasn’t a boy, that much was clear. How big did the age gap have to be to be considered a cougar? I wasn’t sure four years was enough, but I couldn’t deny the way my body was pulled toward him. It could have been the way he organized things, or maybe it was his ass and intense eyes that made me lose all comprehension. Either way, he was sex on legs, and I had a sneaky suspicion that if he hadn’t kissed anyone, then he hadn’t slept with anyone either.

  Holy. Shit.

  He was a virgin, and I was over here thinking all these thoughts when he probably put up with me because I was living in the same house as him. Crap. Had I imagined all the times we—

  “I’m ready to leave,” JJ announced, and when I glanced up, I saw the straps of his backpack over his shoulders and a set of keys in his hands.

  “Right,” I croaked out, nodding as I turned to follow him back through the store.

  I couldn’t think straight, and I was sure it was the hay that had invaded my system, making me high so that my neurons couldn’t send signals to my brain or body parts. Each of JJ’s movements had me hyperaware as he locked the door to the shop and proceeded to walk the way I had just come.

  Why couldn’t I talk? It felt like I was watching myself from inside my body as we walked past the row of shops. I probably should have been taking in the signs and the names of the shops, so I remembered how to get to the shop, but the strap on my sandals was so fascinating that I just couldn’t stop staring.

  Yeah, right.

  “I’ll go grocery shopping tomorrow,” I said like that was what we’d just been talking about. It came from nowhere, but hey, it was better than nothing.

  “Today is mac ’n’ cheese day.”

  I worried my bottom lip and looked around. Jeffery and JJ’s mac ’n’ cheese wasn’t like a normal person’s recipe. Anyone else would get a box and mix it up, serve, and be done with it. Not them though. Nope. They made their own from scratch. Maybe it was time I showed JJ what proper mac ’n’ cheese tasted like.

  “I have an idea,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the street. I had seen a small convenience store somewhere along here. I didn’t even think twice about the move I’d made, but when JJ’s fingers pushed between mine and his firm grip encased my hand, I nearly tripped over my own two feet.

  Shit. Now was not the time to channel Vi.

  “What’s your idea?”

  I tilted my head and smiled up at JJ. “It’s a surprise.”

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  “Well, mister, you’re getting a surprise, so you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

  His lips quirked on one side, and I swear I heard angels sing at the sight of it. Or maybe that was my vagina?

  Damn.

  I watched with rapt attention as JJ dug his fork into the cooked mac ’n’ cheese. It had taken me minutes to prepare when we got home, and now I was curious to see what he thought.

  He popped the forkful into his mouth, and I was fascinated with the way his muscles in his jaw moved with each chew. Maybe each of his movements was always like this, or maybe it was because I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he could be a virgin.

  “Well?” I asked as he reached for another forkful.

  “It’s nice. Different.”

  “Different nice?” I asked and raised a brow, readying my own fork to dive into what I knew was delicious.

  “That’s what I said.”

  I smiled and wiggled in my seat. Each day we’d sat at the table to eat dinner and then gone and done our own things. As usual, the comfortable silence surrounded us, but something was itching at me today. I was sure it was because I broke my own rules and wore clothes on pajama day. This was why rules were so important, even self-imposed ones.

  “So, JJ. Tell me about yourself.”

  He raised his brows and turned to face me. “You want me to tell you about myself?”

  “Sure.” I chewed. “You know all about me. You know I have a fake boyfriend, that I attended college where I now teach. You know I moved to New York but grew up in LA.” I pointed my fork at him. “But most importantly, you know that organization is the most important thing in the world.”

  He pursed his lips. “I’m confused.”

  I chewed down on my bottom lip and continued to eat until my bowl was almost empty. “Aha! I know! Let’s play twenty questions.”

  “What’s that?” JJ placed his fork in his empty bowl and stood. I held my dish in the air for him to take into the kitchen too, and he did so without a second thought. That made me smile because I was sure he wouldn’t do that for anyone else. It could only mean one thing.

  I was definitely special.

  I stood and moved over to the sofa where I sat in my usual seat but faced the opposite end where I knew JJ would sit. Rushing water hitting dishes reverberated from the kitchen, and a few minutes later he walked back into the living room.

  “Okay. So twenty questions. Basically, we have to ask twenty questions. Ten each, we go in turns. You can ask anything you want to the other person.”

  “I’m not sure I’m going to like this game.” He pushed his fingers through his hair, making it stick up in all different directions but not caring one iota how he looked.

  “Just…” I swallowed as he settled into his seat and faced me. “Just try it.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Okay. What are the rules?”

  Right. “Erm...you have to answer the question you’re asked with the truth.” He
nodded, and I waved my hand. “I’ll go first.” I cleared my throat. “What makes you smile?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Lining up my Lego figures.”

  “Right. Your turn.”

  “Why did you move from LA?” he asked, no hesitation, almost as if he’d been wanting to ask me that for a while.

  “I just needed a change.” I shrugged. “I’d never been out of LA, and I wanted to see what other places were like.”

  “I like LA. It’s my safe place and my home.”

  “I like LA too,” I grinned, “although the heat is a killer.”

  I found myself leaning closer to him. He had a gravitational pull on me, and I was helpless to the fact. I was just an innocent bystander in all of this so I couldn’t be held accountable to anything that happened when I was around him.

  “Okay. My question.” I tapped my finger on my chin as I thought about it. “What’s one thing you fear?”

  The air became thick with tension, and when he didn’t answer right away, I looked up at him. A line in his forehead told me he was thinking hard about it, and for a second I regretted asking him. What was I thinking playing this game with him? Wait. No. I wasn’t going to think like that. Everyone treated him like he wasn’t a normal person, but he was. He was as normal as anyone, and goddammit, he deserved to be able to play twenty questions.

  “My dad dying.”

  “Oh.” Well shit. That was morbid. “Why?”

  JJ focused his gaze on me. “He’s the only person I have on earth. If he dies, I have no one else.”

  A lump formed in my throat and I darted forward. “You have me.” I grabbed his hands. “You’ll always have me, JJ.”

  “Will I?”

  “Yes.” I bobbed my head up and down several times as a shaky smile took place on my face. “I promise.” I squeezed his hands and went to let go, but he held on tighter.

  “Why did you kiss me?”

  I blinked. “Huh?”